Nonfatal injury rate for air transportation workers rises

Air transportation workers had 6.7 cases of nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time equivalent workers in 2016, up from 6.2 cases in 2015, according to data released Monday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That was more than twice the rate of 2.9 cases per 100 full-time workers for all private industry workers, the bureau posted on its website.

Among the three largest occupations in scheduled air transportation, flight attendants experienced injuries and illnesses that involved days away from work at a rate of 515.3 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in 2016. The rate for reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks was 145.2 cases. The rate for airline pilots, co-pilots, and flight engineers was 39.3 cases.

Those rates compare with a rate for all private industry workers in 2016 of 91.7 cases per 10,000 full-time workers, according to the new data.

The 2015 rate for air transportation workers had been the industry’s lowest rate on record before rising in 2016. This increase was due mostly to an increase in the scheduled air transportation industry from 6.6 to 7.3 cases per 100 full-time workers, according to the bureau.